Grand Stand

Grand Stand from Sweden made two albums and then gone into oblivion. Sad, because, those two albums are really excellent, special the second offer from 2002 named "Tricks of Time". Complicated symphonic prog, with nods towards Genesis, Camel, The Flower Kings and alike.
The album opens with "Jurassic Spark" a song about paranoia. Things get off on the right foot with a 1 minute intro of soaring guitar before the drums and keys come in. Next are the vocals that are well done in this uptempo tune. Some scorching guitar after 4 minutes, and the full sound is beautiful…

2nd release by British progressive rock group Grand Tour from Scotland, which features Hew Montgomery, formerly keyboard player with Glasgow’s Abel Ganz, current Comedy of Errors men Joe Cairney on vocals and Bruce Levick on drums, and former Errors guitarist Mark Spalding. For Grand Tour, 2005 was the year it all started…having played keyboards with Glasgow’s Abel Ganz since 1982, Hew Montgomery had begun to feel the need to take more direct control of his own material as the Ganz machine moved off in a slightly different musical direction from his. Grand Tour was born from a long held fascination with the cold war years and the nuclear stand-off between the super powers - the film “On the Beach” was a huge influence to the music as well, and many of the musical ideas flowed from the visual imagery of the movie.

The debut album from Scotland's neo-progressive rock "supergroup". Grand Tour is a progressive rock project from Scotland which features Hew Montgomery, formerly keyboard player with Glasgow’s Abel Ganz, current Comedy of Errors men Joe Cairney on vocals and Bruce Levick on drums, and former Errors guitarist Mark Spalding. For Grand Tour, 2005 was the year it all started…having played keyboards with Glasgow’s Abel Ganz since 1982, Hew Montgomery had begun to feel the need to take more direct control of his own material as the Ganz machine moved off in a slightly different musical direction from his. Grand Tour was born from a long held fascination with the cold war years and the nuclear stand-off between the super powers - the film “On the Beach” was a huge influence to the music as well, and many of the musical ideas flowed from the visual imagery of the movie.

The practice of performing albums in their entirety gives both artists and their fans the chance to hear the hits and underappreciated deep cuts as well. However, in many cases, most of a classic album is in the set anyway. Styx's 2012 three-disc (two CDs and one DVD) release The Grand Illusion/Pieces of Eight Live is a fine example of giving casual fans and diehards the best of both worlds, and there's certainly an audience for this, since both 1977's The Grand Illusion and 1978's Pieces of Eight went triple-platinum in the United States…